LaDyCyCO's Journal

Show date 2/14/09 -- While you were busy with your special someone on
Valentine’s night, one of the greatest and most respected musicians of
all time was on stage at the Boiler Room in Denton. Greg Ginn, founder

In the Clubs: Greg Ginn explores jamming side of music with two new bands.

When most people think of Greg Ginn, bands like The Grateful Dead,Disco Biscuits or Eoto aren’t necessarily the first things that come tomind.

Which makes sense, considering that Ginn is best known for foundingthe legendary southern California hardcore punk outfit Black Flag,leading the band through the late 1970s and early ’80s. But with hisnew instrumental bands, The Taylor Texas Corrugators and Jambang, the guitarist and bassist has been exploring the jazzier and more jam-oriented sides of his playing.

As he pointed out during a recent phone interview with the Gazettefrom a tour stop in Tallahassee, Fla., those influences have been withhim all along, even going back to Black Flag (just listen to thegroup’s 1985 instrumental EP “The Process of Weeding Out” or the secondhalf of 1984’s “Family Man”). With something around 30 instrumentalalbums under his belt, Ginn said that his new projects aren’t too muchof a stretch.

Avoiding confusion

“I think most people know, and we try to present and promote it in away that doesn’t confuse people,” he said. “Some people might want thenostalgia thing, ‘Oh, it’s that song I heard in the back of the carwhen I was 16,’ but we don’t provide that, and I’m not interested inthat myself. ‘Oh wow, that guy’s still breathing after 80 years; I’mglad I saw him before he had his next heart attack.’ I understand thatimpulse of nostalgia and memories, but it’s not something that I’m intomyself, and I’m not excited about supplying that.”

The two Ginn-led groups have been touring the country since Februaryin support of The Corrugators’ “Goof-Off Experts” and Jambang’s“Connecting,” both released last year. Both bands will share thespotlight at Valentine’s on Tuesday night, with opener Robo-France 29.

And they’ve been touring hard — one look at the schedule revealsonly one or two nights off in the next month. New albums from bothgroups are also expected for this year. It’s a work pattern that Ginnhas maintained since his days with Black Flag, and he doesn’t see anyreason to slow down.

“Oh, no, we’re trying to actually fill it out more; I’m glad it’sfilling in,” he said. “Ideally we like to play six out of seven nights,or nine out of 10, because, why not? If there’s another place we canplay, then we try to do it.”

The tour is an ideal situation for the bands as they both featureexactly the same members. The Corrugators, which on the albums featurejust a drummer and Ginn on guitar, bass and piano played through guitarsynthesizer, are supplemented by Jambang’s full-time drummer SteveDeLollis and mandolin player Bobby Bancalari.

But despite this, both groups maintain distinct identities. Jambangis what Ginn likes to call “organic/electronic” music, with Ginn onguitar for the live performances.

“It’s heavy electronic, which is something in the ’90s I was gettinginto heavily,” he said. “We use some synth loops; we use electronicaccompaniment.”

The band’s show also syncs up to video displays created by artistJoey Keeton of Austin, Texas, near where Ginn’s record label SST is nowlocated. At each show, “Connecting” is played straight through with thevideo, ensuring that things don’t veer too far into jamming territory.

“The songs are pretty structured,” Ginn said. “There’s a lot of improvisation within them, but that’s a more structured band.”

The Corrugators, by contrast, let loose almost completely. Takingthe stage after Jambang with Ginn on bass, the group improvises themajority of its set, falling back on instrumental motifs worked out atpractices or other shows.

“With The Corrugators, it’s whatever we bring to the table thatnight,” Ginn said. “We cover a lot of different influences, from jazz,to classical, country, rock, whatever. I’ve always kept playing and Ialways record stuff, so it just kind of grabs you.”

Harmonic advances

The different approaches of both bands, from each other and fromGinn’s more abrasive past work, has allowed him to open up his playingharmonically. He’s always enjoyed improvisational music, even when itwasn’t considered viable in the ’80s hardcore scene, so musically it’sa linear progression.

“In the very early days with Black Flag, it wasn’t — that was myfirst band, so we just tried to glue something together,” he said. “Atfirst I didn’t necessarily play with people that were into improvisingand that stuff, but pretty soon, after a few years, that became aprerequisite for playing with the band. We used to do a lot of jamming,which was probably unheard of for rock bands at that time — not allrock bands, but I guess the ones that we knew.”

“But that element of me playing has always been there; since Istarted playing guitar that was a part of it. I always like toimprovise, making recordings of myself, doing one part and playing overthat, or jamming with people

Greg Ginn of Black Flag to play Billings with the TX Corrugators

With intentional hackeyed banality, former Black Flag founder and guitarist Greg Ginn will bring his country-style rhythm and blues band Greg Ginn and the Texas Corrugators to Billings on Saturday, April 4.Ginnis best-known for being a founding and fixed member of the influentialhardcore band Black Flag and for starting SST Records to disperse BlackFlag's material. SST grew to a national independent label forunderground music.At 53, Ginn relocated from Long Beach toTexas. He runs SST from a small Texas town outside of Austin, and hehas been touring under the moniker Greg Ginn and the Texas Corrugatorssince the winter of 2008. Expectant punk rockers may bask inGinn's punk rock roots, but shouldn't expect 80s hardcore punk.Instead, Ginn has cranked out a rollicking twang that seems aptlysuited to an aging rocker who refuses to conform.